Products.

piNAV-NG/FM (Flight Model)

Space-Friendly™ CubeSat GPS L1 C/A Receiver.

Do you plan to Launch a Satellite? Today you were afraid that it is lost in space, for the last time.

The piNAV-NG/FM (Flight Model) is a 15 Channel GPS L1 C/A Receiver with a long-term optimized firmware based on many years of orbital operations heritage intended for every satellites, CubeSats and majority of scientific/business/university projects, where the satellite development team requires a module with limited size and power budget.

DROP. | Dead Reckoning Orbital Propagator.

In case the antenna of the GPS receiver system is unable to pick up a proper signal quality, signal strength or locally (in-situ) the signal is jammed from (unfortunately) increasing amount of terrestrial sources powerful enough to penetrate up to the LEO altitudes, making high areas of orbits without usable GPS signal, the Dead Reckoning Orbital Propagator (or DROP) algorithm serves as a mathematical solution implemented in the piNAV-NG firmware to overcome the GPS PVT/Fix dropouts with no need to uplink TLE or other orbital elements from ground, nor many hours of continual operations to collect the orbital data.

Orbital propagator alternatives such as SGP-4 would be considered much more accurate, however for its proper functionality it either requires the initial TLE uplink or much more Fix data to be collected over several orbits (several hours of continual GPS operations), which may not be an easily fulfilled requirement (satellite OBC restarts, power cycling, South Atlantic Anomaly or Single Event Effects induced bitflips or restarts, power savings with GPS receiver OFF, etc.). The onboard ADCS software however still can implement algorithms such as SGP-4 and work with valid GPS fixes only for maximum orbital determination precision, if needed.

Do More. | Save Power. | Operate Longer.

Extremely low nanometer-scale ASICs transistors in advanced commercial and terrestrial GPS receiver chips tweaked for orbital operations are optimized for very low power, but their size make them more vulnerable to cosmic rays, bit flips and firmware errors over the course of the orbit.

piNAV-NG utilizes a solid 45nm process chip for the Correlator core and another 90 nm for PVT, signal acquisition unit and firmware storage memory. That makes a whole lot of difference in a lifetime, whilst maintaining industry lowest power consumption for space-grade receivers.

Connect the proper GPS antenna via RF Coaxial cable and DC power from 2.7 to 3.3V at only 125 mW and start to receive first signals from GPS constellation with piNAV-NG GPS Receiver!

piNAV GPS Receivers | 10+ Years on GNSS Market

First piNAV CubeSat GPS Receiver (aka picosatellite NAVigator) was introduced in 2014, first delivered in 2015 and first flight to space occured in 2017. More than 50+ units have been delivered to various customers since then.

Part Number: piNAV-NG/FM (Flight Model)

Product Summary

World’s First Ultra Low Power CubeSat GPS Receiver with DROP (Dead Reckoning Orbital Propagator)
Straightforward use – Plug-and-play device
Fast Acquisition Unit for Cold Start (under 80 sec)
Housekeeping Measurements Engine
Allow Nonstop Operation with conventional 1U CubeSat power budget
Power consumption: 125 mW (typical), 3.3 V @ 25°C
GPS L1 C/A signal, 15 channels
Low Earth Orbit (LEO) operation: Altitudes up to 3600 km
Velocity: up to 9 km/s
Cold Start Time in LEO: (Time-to-First Fix TTFF): 80 seconds (typical)
Warm Start Time in LEO: 50 seconds (typical)
Sensitivity: Acquisition 38 dBc-Hz, Tracking 25 dBc-Hz, Short term fading 18 dBc-Hz
Protocols: NMEA 0183 (standard GPS sentences), piNAV (NMEA sentences extension)
Easy-to-Implement Data Interface: UART 9600-8-N-1, 3V3-CMOS levels
TRL9
Position update rate: 1 Hz
VPP (Valid Position Pulse) output (3V3-CMOS compatible)
PF (Position Fix) output (3V3-CMOS compatible)
2.7 to 3.6V power supply
Active Antenna DC Bias Output (up to 3.3V @ 50mA)
Ultra Low Dimensions: 71.1x45.7x11 mm
Wide temperature range: -40˚C to +85˚C
Connectors: 2 mm pitch, 2x10 pin header (System Interface), MCX-Female (GPS Antenna Connector)
Supports Active or High Gain Passive GPS Antennas
Ultra low mass: 24 grams (incl. coating)

Dual Use Goods: YES
HS Code: 8526.91.20.20
Lead Time: 2-4 Weeks + Shipping
Country of Origin: Czech Republic

Pricing (EUR)

Qty.  Unit Price  Ext. Price
1:    5900 €      5900 €
2:    5490 €      10980 €
3+:   4590 €      13770 €

Want this for your project? → Contact us.

piNAV-NG/EM (Engineering Model)

The Engineering Model (EM) with the same mechanical and electrical properties is available with software limitation to maximum velocity and altitude. Red Remove Before Flight Finish is applied to prevent interchange with the Flight Model unit. Connect the proper GPS antenna via RF Coaxial cable and DC power from 2.7 to 3.3V and start to receive first signals from GPS constellation with piNAV-NG GPS Receiver and start implement your Onboard Computer or Attitude Determination and Control Subsystem software!

Note: As the DROP (Dead Reckoning Orbital Propagator) requires an orbital velocity 7000-9000 m/s, it is not available in Engineering Model, thus also the Warm Start time is not defined.

Part Number: piNAV-NG/EM (Engineering Model)

Product Summary

Engineering Model for FlatSat Design and AIT/AIV Development
Fast Acquisition Unit for Cold Start (under 80 sec)
Housekeeping Measurements Engine
Power consumption: 125 mW (typical), 3.3 V @ 25°C
GPS L1 C/A signal, 15 channels
Velocity up to 0.5 km/s (Engineering Model)
Cold Start Time (Time-to-First Fix TTFF): 80 seconds (typical)
Sensitivity: Acquisition 38 dBc-Hz, Tracking 25 dBc-Hz, Short term fading 18 dBc-Hz
Protocols: NMEA 0183 (standard GPS sentences), piNAV (NMEA sentences extension)
Easy-to-Implement Data Interface: UART 9600-8-N-1, 3V3-CMOS levels
Position update rate: 1 Hz
VPP (Valid Position Pulse) output (3V3-CMOS compatible)
PF (Position Fix) output (3V3-CMOS compatible)
2.7 to 3.6V power supply
Active Antenna DC Bias Output (3.3V @ 50mA)
Ultra Low Dimensions: 71.1x45.7x11 mm
Wide temperature range: -40˚C to +85˚C
Connectors: 2 mm pitch, 2x10 pin header (System Interface), MCX-Female (GPS Antenna Connector)
Supports Active or High Gain Passive GPS Antennas
Ultra low mass: 23 grams

Dual Use Goods: YES
HS Code: 8526.91.20.20
Lead Time: 2-4 weeks + Shipping
Country of Origin: Czech Republic

Early Spacecraft Formulation? → Contact us.

piNAV-NG/EK (Evaluation Kit)

The piNAV-NG Evaluation Kit is the Full Set of Hardware making the integration of the Ultra Low Power CubeSat GPS Receiver piNAV-NG System Quick & Easy job! The Evaluation Kit also contains the magnetically stickable car antenna (for terrestrial use only) and the FTDI Serial-to-USB cable. There is no need of soldering job to start. All you need to begin is to connect all parts together.

Connect it with the FTDI USB-to-Serial cable and standard PC Serial Terminal software or GPS NMEA Sentences Parsing software and display your first Position, Velocity and Time Data. It will allow you to deploy, connect and operate all piNAV-NG features easily with no need for soldering!

Test various Mission Profile scenarios, display NMEA sentences, save Log files, load and parse them or simply Enjoy watching a ground track from your satellite's collected NMEAs!

Part Number: piNAV-NG/EK (Evaluation Kit)

Product Summary

piNAV-NG PC/104+ form factor Evaluation Board with TXD, RXD, VPP, PF indicating LEDs
FTDI Serial-to-USB Cable included
Parsing Software Application for PC (Windows) on separate Flashdrive
Third-party Magnetic Car GPS Antenna with ~2 m long RF cable crimped with MCX-Male connector included (for terrestrial use only)
Test pins ready for Oscilloscope Probe hooks
Extension Header for direct connection to the piNAV-NG Receiver unit
4x M3x15 Polyimide (insulated) standoffs for the Eval Kit PCB
Header for the external USB-to-TTL serial cable connector
Reset Button for manual Cold Start Reset with indicating LED
Powered and operated directly from USB port i.e. from portable PC
Dimensions: PC/104+ (90.2 x 96 mm)

Dual Use Goods: YES
HS Code: 8473.3020
Lead Time: 1-3 Weeks + Shipping
Country of Origin: Czech Republic

AIV/AIT Inquiry? → Contact us.